Final Fantasy VII: Tale of Alpha
by Killer I Am
Summary: This is a collaboration of short Final Fantasy VII crossovers, but there are so many others that cross that it would be impossible to put it in the crossover section.


**Author's Notes: This is a collaboration of short Final Fantasy VII crossovers. You will notice a pattern similar to "Tales of the Crypt".**

The Induction

The clatter of a busy office, foot steps echoing voices of murmured chatter. A bell rung and a large metal door opened, men and women in suits flooded out. These were the Turks, Shin-Ra's best. The man in Military Uniform waited patiently for the last of the Turks to exit, he was leaning against the wall arms folded. He could over hear some of the younger Turk recruits deep in conversation over some issue about…saboteurs? Maybe an assignment, Barber was always known for going over controversial ideas and theories of the past wars and men on the inside. A bulky bald Turk stalked out and behind him, hands in pockets attire a bit wrinkled, this man's hair was spiky long and what stood out to the man the most was his burning red hair. The man in Military Uniform decided to make his way into Barber's room; the firry haired one noticed him straightened and saluted.

"At ease…?"

"Reno, sir!" informed Reno, he glanced at his partner who straightened but was still in awe.

"At ease, Reno," he said in a thick southern accent. He shut the door at the sound of disgusted shouts.

He tilted his head a bit, "Hey old man," he called out.

Barber looked up in shock, he started to laugh. "Hey, long-time-no-see, man!" he stood and met the other half way shaking his hand. "What's your business here?"

"Well, I thought I'd stop by to say hello to an old friend."

Barber laughed and shook his head. "With you it's never that simple." His expression changed from playful to serious.

"Well," the man sighed, "if you must know I was told I might find an 'ex-SOLDIER' by the name of Cloud Strife here."

Barber's eyes narrowed, he took a step back sitting on one of the desktops shaking his head slowly.

"You've been misinformed; Cloud doesn't work for Shinra—"

"Neither do you, yet here you are."

Barber chuckled "—he does show up here every now and again, mainly it is to speak with Reno or Rude. Sometimes Tseng, but…why is he in some sort of trouble?"

"No," explained the man, "he's not, but word got to me about him…an assignment has come up and they want Cloud on the job. I can't tell you much, but its 'inside' and I'm the only one of my kind that does that sort of thing anymore. Quite frankly, Cloud Strife is the only man fit for the job."

Barber let out a breath. "Then I was right, he is in trouble." A smile crept across his face.

The other laughed, "I'll make sure the boy is ready." He nodded, shook Barber's hand again and turned to leave.

"Wait," asked Barber, "what should I tell him?"

The other stopped at the door, opening it thinking.

"Well," suggested the other, "just tell him that Major Aldo Raine is lookin for him." With that he strode out.

㑶

She was there, in his arms, he had been seeing her lately as the summer winds past through his spiky blond hair. He still marveled at her beauty, her soft brown locks and perfect form. They were in a field of flowers, the question in Cloud's mind was, how did he get here? He turned back to her, but once she looked back her face was falling apart, his eyes widened, suddenly a black hole opened up beneath him and he started falling!

The black turned to white and his eyes opened to a relatively clean restroom. He quickly remembered where he was, in the restroom of 7th Heaven dripping over a toilet. Cloud groaned and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, he was breathing hard. He had been feeling sick all day, ever since he met with Tseng earlier that day. He sat back against the wall, the door opened Cloud grabbed for…nothing. It was only Tifa; he let out a sigh of relief. A concerned look was upon her face.

"Cloud," she said, "are you…okay?"

The corner of his lip tugged up for a split second. "Well, what do you think?"

"Cloud," she said hesitantly.

If he could only remember what it was Tseng had told him. Cloud opened his mouth to speak, but before he could his phone began to ring; he slowly reached for it flipping it open. "Hello…"

There were a few moments of silence before Cloud grunted.

"On my way," he said, slowly rising from the floor. As he moved to the door, he looked to Tifa, she smiled shook her head and hugged him, he headed out the door. As she closed it a frightened look took shape upon her face.

_How should I tell him_, she wondered, _how can, I tell him…I'm pregnant?_

A stout man in a Turk suit stood in the Shin-Ra Tech Lab, he seemed to be getting a bit fidgety as if he was still getting used to the suit. He stood over a small corner office staring at the computer; there was the audible hum of the machines and the tap, tap of typing. The man heard footfalls, looking up he saw an average sized spiky blond walk in.

He nodded, looking back at the unseen worker he said: "Vincent, the man's here. When is this gonna be done?"

Cloud almost faltered in his step at the name, he was clearly taken aback. As he came closer the man behind the desk stood…but it was not who he expected to see.

"I still don't understand why I had to come here to do _this_," said the man. "You could've called me from home, not like I'm doin anything today."

"Well, enjoy the rest of your carefree day," said the other as he handed the man a brown bag. "I think you might enjoy this…for your efforts. Plus the bill Shin-Ra will be forwarding to your personal account."

The man lifted an eyebrow and pointed to the bag. "Is that—"

"A Royal with Cheese, yes sir it is!"

Vincent rubbed his hands together, took the bag and started for the door; before he made his way out he noticed Cloud and studied him.

"You must be Cloud Strife?" Cloud nodded. "Huh, not exactly what I had in mind."

"Vincent," rumbled the other, "how's about you see your ass back to your home and enjoy the rest of your day." Vincent nodded, and exited quickly.

"Aldo Raine I assume," commented Cloud. _Just as Barber described him_.

"Cloud Strife, pleasure to meet you, but as I'm sure Barber told you I'm not much on small talk," he tilted his head up a bit as he talked, "so let's get down to business."

Cloud nodded.

"Cloud, we will be sending you to Lunar Docks, there you will meet with Captain Aran, you'll need this to get in though—" he tossed him a suitcase from the desk—"I told her she'd be meetin' a SOLDIER undercover as a Turk." Cloud peaked in the suitcase just to make sure. A thought occurred to him.

"What are my means of transportation?"

"Getting to that Captain Strife," said Major Raine taking a vanilla file from the desk as a smile crossed his face, "you will go to the Galbadia spaceport, there you will meet a man by the name of Squall Leonhart." He handed Cloud the file. "Give him this, there will be an ear piece under the second seat on the left side of the shuttle, from there I will instruct you further. You should probably start heading that way at, oh…sixteen hundred."

Cloud looked at the clock; it was around 5:55.

"…that'd be _now_ Strife," he said, "oh and before I forget, Lieutenant Utivich has your bags at the helipad with the cycle. Hope you can sleep on a chopper you'll need your rest, from where you land is about a days drive."

Cloud headed to the door, if his motorcycle was already with the chopper how was he supposed to get there? As he made his way down the stairs he supposed Major Aldo Raine had that all figured out. Once he opened the door letting himself out of the building he saw a truck and a man in a blue uniform with slicked back brown hair and a cigarette between his lips, was leaning up against it and looked up from the magazine.

He sighed with a smoky breath: "Captain Strife," he extended his hand, "names Bob; obviously Raine has asked if I would transport you to the Shin-Ra helipad." Cloud nodded and stepped in.

He climbed to the front seat after he uncomfortably changed into the Turk suit. They were, to Cloud's knowledge, ten minutes from half way to their destination, as he looked out the window he saw a black hair man on a motorcycle roar past. He knew it had to be Raine's errand boy, Cloud glanced at Bob who had not made a sound sense he'd introduced himself; a very silent man Cloud liked that. Bob's eyes rolled in his direction and pointed at the radio.

"You mind?" he asked. Cloud shook his head. Bob flicked a switch, pressed up a button and roaring music blared in his ears, a very rocking jazz kind of track.

Cloud stepped out of the truck; he looked to see a chopper starting up and a man with folded arms, he nodded his thanks to Bob. Reno opened the door to the cockpit; Cloud picked up his bags and climbed aboard.

㑶

Sometimes, Cloud supposed, he did not want to shut his eyes for he knew all too well what lurked in the shadows of his mind…nothing good ever came out of those things—nor did dwelling on them. He could not figure it out, but for some reason she was appearing before him still, he felt as if someone was plucking at his heartstrings every time he saw her face. Green jewels sparkling in those holes where the eyes rest, but why was she here? Perhaps, even though she was gone in body and he finally gave up that weight of the grudge realizing he was not to blame, she had decided to stay with him in spirit. If so then her spirit must be fading, he had thought earlier…

_Or maybe_..._it's something else_. He saw her at the edge of a forest he had never seen before; he moved closer that was when he smelled smoke! He looked around, the field was ablaze he turned back to her, she…was melting! Her face sliding off her skull, the dress with the rest of the flesh dropped to the ground and standing there in the middle was a silver haired figure; he was starring at the ground where the rest of the girl was melting like a plastic figurine. Cloud noticed his long hair was somewhat…spiked? The man slowly looked up at Cloud and gave a small grin.

That face—it was _his own_! Cloud slowly backed away shaking his head—

His eyes flashed open as he crashed against the floor of the helicopter. Cloud slowly lifted his body up holding the back of his head; he checked his hand for blood.

"Hey—" he turned around to see Reno looking down at him with a raised eyebrow "—we're about five minutes from landing." He held out his hand to help Cloud the rest of the way up from the floor; his lips were about to form words.

"Don't ask," he sighed as he took Reno's hand and got to his feet.

Once they landed he hopped out and climbed on Fenrir, and started for Galbadia. The trip was a lot longer than he had anticipated. It was night by the time he was pulling into Galbadia; he parked the cycle and made his way towards the hotel. As he entered he saw he was not the only one who be staying here tonight, a man with fairly long hair, his bangs on the right side barely covered his eye, on the left side the bangs were tucked back behind his ear. Moving his eyes from the man to the brunet behind the counter, reaching into his pockets he made his way to the desk. She looked up from her book and beamed brightly at him.

"I'd like a room for one night, please," he said returning her a slight smile. He laid out the money and headed to his assigned room. Once he got his clothes off and put them in a neat pile on the dresser, he collapsed on the bed. However, the oddest thing happened when his head hit the pillow; he heard a crumpling noise. Searching under the pillow he found an envelope, inside was money and lots of it. Cloud huffed a sighing laugh and lay back down.

㑶

Exactly nine hours later he checked himself out of the hotel, he did not see the other from the night before which could only mean that he had either checked out already or was still asleep in his room. All of which did not matter to Cloud, the only reason why the thought lingered was the fact that it could have been someone sent by Raine. Next "x" on the map was the Galbadia Space Docks, he revved Fenrir's engine and sped off.

It took him a good two hours before reaching his assigned destination. He pulled into the docks, moving to his assigned dock Cloud looked upon a voyager, best SEED ships of the land. A slim man, presumably the pilot, stood on the ramp he knew by the man's poster this was the right place. Squall looked up from the rage and shook his head.

"…a gun! What are the odds?" shouted Squall once Cloud was close enough to hear him.

Cloud shrugged.

"That I would be transporting _the_ Cloud Strife!" his tone indicated he was mocking him bitterly.

"Hello to you too, asshole."

"Ha, dido," Squall shot back.

"When Raine mentioned you I thought maybe you'd gotten over whatever it was," said Cloud.

"Raine never mentioned you. That man has done his research."

"Whatever," sighed Cloud as he boarded the ship.

Squall fround as he climbed aboard.

"Hey, asshole!" he shouted after Cloud. "Don't forget I saved your life!"

"We're even Squall," he returned, "I don't think of this as a favor. Remember, if I hadn't gotten to you in time that Sephiroth clone and Ultimeca would've killed you."

Squall clinched his jaw, took in deep, slow breath and glared into the empty cockpit. He had him cornered; Cloud sighed agitatedly as he grabbed the vanilla file from the exact chair Raine said it would be.

"Well I suppose you're right," Squall finally said breaking the silence. "For the meantime, we'll have to put differences aside."

"As long as it gets the job done." He sifted through the papers half of which were his Codes of Passage, his new Identity Card; according to this his name was now Striker Burton.

Neither one spoke for most of the trip, Cloud was receiving information anyway. Squall thought about what he and Rinoa had discussed earlier, she had noticed he was upset, about what? She had asked the same, trying to get him to converse with her, at the time he just did not want to and she wanted in, but Squall did not want that at all. He _was_ upset, but about what?

_That someone had to save you_, he thought, he wasn't used to feeling as if someone was looking out for him. Though he supposed he owed Cloud an apology, _maybe not_. After another hour of silence Squall received the message from his headset that they were a good five parsecs away from Lunar Docks. He opened the shields on the flight canopy.

"There she is," he notified Cloud.

He looked up and moved to the cockpit.

"Lunar Docks," Cloud murmured in awe. A few moments later they were linking with the connector. Cloud nodded his thanks to Squall, who nodded back as Cloud walked through the connector.

Once he was inside, his eyes grew wide; it was a city in a shuttle! He reached into his back pocket, producing a small electronic pad. Raine had told him to find a computer, connect the device to it and a map of the entire area should upload to his GPS, Cloud supposed. Once he had done this he looked through the map file finding the area in which he needed to be, he looked up from the pad in the direction of which he needed to be. It was a good thing he'd gotten a bit of sleep on the way to this place.

Cloud was on the tenth—and last—step when he saw the man. Except the man's hair was combed back, the long bangs tucked behind his ear; it was the man from the hotel lobby. A mild thought ran through his mind, there was a possibility this was his alleged partner and there were a special set of code phrases or words one need to use in a phrase that made it possible for the other to know they were allies. As he stood before the meeting hall doors, he took a stray glance at the man.

"They should charge more than a hundred gil," Cloud said, "for the magnificent service."

The other shrugged. "I suppose."

To Cloud's surprise the other carried on the conversation.

"I don't suppose you know the whereabouts of Ms. Aran?"

"First Class Captain Aran," Cloud corrected in a normal voice, he did not want to come across as snappy. "No, unfortunately I don't."

"Does she live up to the name everyone has given her?"

"From what I can tell," Cloud answered, "the best military leaders and most renowned hunter this side of the galaxy. Most don't think Aran is a woman, at least not one that could be attractive."

"Think she's training?" the man asked.

"Possibly," Cloud made his way towards the man, reaching out. "Striker Burton."

"Max Yoslovik," they shook.

The man had a firm grip; Cloud knew he could be trusted.

"All militia identities aside, Cloud Strife," he said once more introducing himself.

"Leon S. Kennedy," he returned.

Cloud had only heard rumors, but only rumors. Therefore, until now, the man himself was a rumor. A man in fatigues was heading in their direction; he looked them over as he scooped his brown hair back. Leon and Cloud both assumed the two of them looked rather odd in nice suites while the rest were in uniform or civilian clothes.

"Yoslovik, Burton, I'm sorry to inform you but your appointment with Captain Aran has been pushed to tomorrow morning at nine hundred sharp," the man informed them. "I will show you to your quarters."

Leon and Cloud, after they had entered their room, had discussed searching the facility, they now stood in front of a desk waiting on a lovely brunet to explain to them why Aran had moved their meeting and the specific files Raine said they required.

"She is currently having a private meeting with Commander Phuson," she told them as she handed over their files. They thanked her and moved to the desks on the other side of the room.

After making sure no one was listening Leon looked to Cloud.

"Private meeting," he laughed. "Who holds a private meeting in their quarters?"

"…Can't blame her," Cloud remarked. "We could all use a "private meeting" every-now-and-then."

This made Leon smile a bit. "I suppose you're right." He opened the file looking through the materials. Neither one of them really knew what they were looking at. Another man in a suite and tie stood before the desk, Cloud was the first to notice this, he must have just received the information that Captain Aran was in a private meeting he was shaking his head. Now he was headed their way, his eye was upon the spiky blond man.

"There seems to be a cloud that rains only on me," he said with a laugh. "Private meeting, this is bull . . ."

The man must have caught a glance of the file they were examining.

"Metroids," he said.

"Excuse me?" asked Leon.

"You must be the two Major told me about," he said, as he extended his hand. "They call me Xeno." Leon shook his hand, eyes still fixed upon the man waiting for him to reveal his actual name, but he never did.

"You're both probably wondering what these are. That's why I brought him along," Xeno pointed to the soldier that led them to their room.

Leon reached for his gun, but Cloud was the first to ask why he had asked the man for help.

"As far as he knows I am—and now we are working for Shin-Ra," he calmed them. The man in fatigues sat at their table and was introduced to both of them, he skimmed through the papers.

"Metroids," he explained, "they've been dormant—well dead for a good ten years. Captain Samus Aran wiped them out…ironic sense the Metroid cell saved her after an attack from a new enemy that was finally wiped out as well. Anyway, after a certain scientist obsessed with a project which he called 'Alpha' he had come from earth; I guess he couldn't continue his research on Earth. He somehow found a way to bring back the Metroids. They weren't the same though, you have regular Type A and Type B, Type As are not very dangerous they feed on you like a tick but once they get their feel they'll leave you alone.

But Type Bs, they are very aggressive and they will eat you. I've seen them consume and it's not pretty. However, there is a rumor that before the resurrection one of these things ate Aran out. Ironic, huh? Well next you've got the Blue Metroids, they live in cold environments one of them killed one of our chefs. Then these—" he pointed it out—"bright orange we call em Fire Metroids, and the these kinda sickly green ones Swamp Metroids and last but not least the very territorial Metroids, they are Shadow Metroids. We've only come across one, it's in the lab."

"I guess that's where we're going," muttered Xeno.

_Alpha Project_, thought Cloud the memories were flooding in now, he remembered what Tseng had told him, well bits. _Alpha project was stumbled upon during the Chaos theory and Project Omega; Alpha could possibly bring about a god. I just hope it's not him—a man who worked for Shin-Ra once thought he could prove this theory—I hope it's not him . . ._

_ Who?—Just a crazy scientist_…

"—not unless you have a sample."

"We'll get it then!" exclaimed Cloud.


End file.
